Maddon, Rays not planning many changes
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Nov 05, 2008 
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Just ran into always entertaining Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon in the lobby. He’s back in southern California (where he lives) preparing for his wedding on Saturday. He stopped by today to meet with Andrew Friedman about the state of his team.
Maddon said the Rays will look at their bullpen and right field but aren’t planning much beyond that. “I want the players we have now to continue to get better. I’m going to talk to our coaches about stressing fundamentals in spring training,” he said.
David Price, he said, will be a starter. He was asked about Rocco Baldelli and mentioned that this winter will be a key time as Baldelli assesses his health. It’s such a unique situation, that nobody is sure to what degree he will be able to play down the road.
Maddon’s honeymoon will be a train trip through Italy, the Czech Republic and Germany. He’ll know the Rays have arrived, he said, if he sees a fan with team gear on. He then joked about putting a Rays hat on the statue of David.
Maddon is still sporting a mohawk haircut. “I have get it tightened up before the wedding,” he said.
Why I don’t cower when I ponder the Rays:
Little plate patience, crummy bullpen. Certainly, we took advantage of the former in that two-game sweep before the AS Break.
Otherwise, they’re a sharp, young outfit.
SOS:
yes brother. Same range.
almost every player, was very nice to me. The ones which stand-out: Yount, Molitor, Rob Deer, Mike Felder, Jim Gantner. Even Yount and Molitor didn’t act like superstars. Very approachable.
biggest a$$? Chris Bosio.
lot of talent, on that team. BJ Surhoff, Dale Sveum, Dan Plesac, were rookies
SOS:
yes, Boggs was definitely a great hitter. Tony Gwynn, is another. Probably my fave non-Yankee/Brewer player of all-time
: )
They shouldn’t be planning any changes they went to the Series and surpassed everyones expectations. If Joe Girardi had said that then I would be concerned.
David Price a starter? That’s nuts! The guy has shut down stuff out of the pen! Doesn’t he know that Tampa could shorten up games with Price in the pen? Didn’t he see how Price shut down the Red Sox out of the pen? The guy has nasty stuff out of the pen ad they want to make him a starter, unbelieveable!
The Rays won a tremendous amount of 1 run games last year and their offense really isn’t all that great. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if they didn’t make the playoffs next year. Now maybe they’ll trade for a really good offensive RF or even sign Abreu but I wouldn’t feel too confident if I were them. Just my take on the situation.
Ray- You’re right with the Yanks on the free-agent warpath and the Sox always being good the Rays might not make the playoffs next year. Especially if the Yanks play up to their capabilities.
He’s getting married? How old is he, like 60? Some hoochie mama reeling him in before he gets a contract extention, lol.
And why is David Price going to the pen? Especially when we all know how IMPORTANT bullpen’s are these days. You have to leave him in that role, no question about it!!!!!
…but not until the gods determine on just how many levels that 5:55 message was subhuman…
How old is the wifey? Maddon sure knows how to mid-life crisis in style. I mean, everyone does the glasses and the mohawk/wine/jazz/pile-ups with little boys thing… but going to the world series and then throwing it by playing football manager, not many are able to take it to that level
Keep Price in the bullpen? Are you serious?
That is the most outrageously stupid think I believe I’ve ever heard. Under that logic, Smoltz, Beckett, Sabathia, Santana, etc. should all be closers.
Get real. You don’t waste talent like that (BTW, he’s been a STARTER his ENTIRE CAREER sans two games in the playoffs) by putting it in the pen.
Is Closer now the most important piece of the rotation?
Unbelievable how dumb those comments are.
little plate discipline? only the Red Sox had more walks than the Rays.
crummy bullpen? go check their stats during the regular season.